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Fantastic Journey

The San Francisco Ballet's opening night gala and two world premieres are highlights of the new season

The holidays dazzled, but here’s something to tempt the spirit in the new year: the San Francisco Ballet’s 86th season-opening gala Jan. 23, This is Passion, chaired by Claire Stewart Kostic and benefiting new works, scholarships and education. One of two world premieres occurs in March—a piece choreographed by Liam Scarlett and set to Rachmaninoff’s “Isle of the Dead,” a symphonic poem inspired by Swiss artist Arnold Bocklin’s painting of the same name. “It’s really, in my eyes, a meditation on the journey people go through after this life,” Scarlett says. “In looking at the painting, there’s a sense of travel. What happens after this life is completely unknown. For a title that is maybe quite ominous, it’s a piece of calm, beautiful music which draws out the nuances of the painting. It’s about leading to questions that may not necessarily ever be answered.” Gala tickets $1,500-$6,000 each, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco